“Everything new is well-forgotten old”, — not only believe, but also prove it daily well-known world brands, fashion designers, painters, designers, decorators, using elements of Armenian ornaments, patterns, national costumes in their work. And this is wonderful, because, getting acquainted with the Armenian heritage, in particular the national costume “Taraz”, one can at the same time learn a lot about the history of Armenia: from the birth of the most ancient state to the present day. Our interlocutor is the director of the Cultural Center “Teryan”, designer Lilit Melikyan, who almost several years delights us with her shows and examples of modernization of Taraz.

You are right, the Armenian national costume is a real chronicle, according to which you can see and read the history of our people. The material, the cut, the pattern on the clothes will tell us about many things. Moreover, with the help of a suit, you can learn about the social, religious, climatic and geographical conditions in which people lived. Not to mention that a folk costume can tell both about the lifestyle and the history of its owners.

Willingly! We do this in our center, we could say, every day — we travel into the past, so that, having returned to the present, we can correctly and adequately represent the future.

“The future of the past” is the name of our project, which presents the restored Armenian national costumes.

In Armenia, as elsewhere, folk clothing has undergone significant evolution over the course of various historical eras. Let’s start with the most ancient state called Urartu.

In the 19th century B.C., Urartu was a powerful kingdom in the territory of the Armenian Highlands. Archaeological excavations have unearthed numerous materials depicting Urartian clothing.

In 189 B.C., by the great Armenian king Artashes an independent kingdom was founded in Armenia, which began to expand and encompass regions with Armenian-speaking population.

The king Tigranes II (95-56 B.C.), a former “Hellenophile”, wanted to spread Hellenic culture in Armenia. However, in the matter of clothing, he tried to preserve the traditional Armenian style.

Since 226, Armenia has become an apple of discord between Sassanian Iran and the Byzantine Empire, since power in Iran passes to the Sassanids, and peaceful coexistence between the Parthians and Armenians was disrupted. This was caused primarily by the adoption of Christianity by Armenia in 301 — a religion of the opponents of the Sassanids — the Byzantine Empire. The preservation of the independence of Armenia, mainly of culture, was largely facilitated by the creation of its own Armenian alphabet in 405. If the military and princely estates in many respects still followed the patterns of the clothes of the Persian court, then the people steadily retained their traditional clothes.

This is a period of intensive economic and cultural development. The court, when communicating with the Arab Caliphate, sometimes wore Arab clothing. Armenian kings wore a crown and a purple robe.

Cilician Armenian Kingdom (1080-1375)

Cilicia, located in the southeastern part of Asia Minor, on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, became the focus of the Armenian population from various regions of Armenia. The resettlement took on an even wider scope during the period of the Turkic-Seljukh invasions. Due to the geographical location of Cilicia, the Armenians were in close contact with the Europeans, which also affected their clothing. This is evidenced by the preserved miniatures and coins of Cilician Armenia.

The period of Mongol dominance (XIII-XIV centuries)

Armenia, like all Transcaucasia, was subjected to the destructive domination of the Mongols. As pastoralists, the Mongols turned a significant part of Armenia into deserted spaces for the free movement of their herds. To facilitate the collection of taxes and duties, they kept small Armenian principalities. The people continued to wear their traditional costume, while the Armenian princes adopted the clothing of the Mongols.

The period of the Turkish-Persian wars (XIV-XIX centuries)

In the 14th century, Turkish nomadic tribes broke into the countries of the Middle East from Central Asia and, almost without resistance, advanced through the destroyed Armenia to the possessions of the Byzantine Empire. The newly created Ottoman Empire in the east was forced to wage a long war with Iran for domination over Armenia.

As a result of this war, the Ottoman Empire managed to take over 75% of the territory of Armenia. The region was divided into two parts: the eastern Armenians were under the rule of Iran, and the western ones were under the rule of Turkey. This circumstance was reflected in the specifics of the economic and cultural development of the two parts of the Armenian people in general and clothing in particular. However, it should be noted that the Muslim religion of the ruling countries forbade Christian subjects to wear Muslim clothes. Thanks to this, wide sections of the Armenian population wore their own national clothes. On the other hand, the Armenians, as a primordial hack-working people with a high culture of weaving and tailoring, had a significant impact on the form and quality of clothing of the ruling strata.

The geographical location of Armenia and the features of its historical development had a decisive impact on the formation and evolution of the Armenian national dress, which occupies a special place in the system of national costumes of the Middle East. Undoubtedly, the clothes of Armenians, in particular for men, have always carried the influence of neighboring peoples, whose clothes, in turn, were influenced by the Armenian costume. But in general, Armenian clothing retained its national flavor.

TARAZ Let’s talk about its history and the main symbols of the Armenian costume

The Armenian national costume is very diverse. Taraz of each region of Armenia — both Eastern and Western (now the territory of Turkey) — has its own specifics, however, there are common elements, thanks to which it cannot be confused with the clothes of other peoples.

What does the word “Taraz” mean?

There is an assumption that it is arisen from the word “tar”, which in translation from Armenian means “a letter”. Indeed, in ancient times, many costumes were decorated with the letters of the Armenian alphabet. But, again, this is one of many versions of the origin of this name. If we talk about the colors of taraz, then red, blue, green, purple, and yellow dominate among the colors. Sure, everybody today modifies and supplements with “own vision”, but the activities of our Cultural Center are just devoted to the restoration of historical and national values.

Separately, I would like to note the importance of some colors in our taraz. For example, red and dark cherry symbolized fertility, and black — as paradoxical as it may be heared — the color of the earth. White meant water, crimson — wisdom, red — courage, and blue — heavenly justice. The use of yellow emphasized luxury and wealth, not to mention the fact that by taraz it was possible to determine the marital status of a person and the number of children he/she had.

According to the Armenian historian and philosopher Grigor Tatevatsi (14th century), the dominant colors in costumes reflect the colors of the four elements of being — the blackness of the earth, the whiteness of water, the redness of the air, and the yellowness of fire.